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As described above, the pattern of radiating avenues was
joined and filled by a gridiron matrix of streets, which were
numbered to the east and west and lettered to the north
and south - excluding J Street, which L’Enfant omitted
to avoid confusion with the letters l and J that were
indistinguishable and often interchangeable at the time,
according to a 1994 Washington Post Magazine article.
Although L’Enfant’s design became the basis for land
sales, construction and planning, President Washington
fired him a year after he was hired because L’Enfant “forged
ahead regardless of his orders, the budget, or landowners
with prior claims”.
The design competition
In 1792, at Washington’s request, Secretary of State Thomas
Jefferson announced an architectural competition to
produce design drawings for the President’s House.
Washington insisted that the building should be made
of stone, so that it would have a more substantial
appearance, much like the most important buildings in
Europe. The young nation had never seen anything like it,
and that was what Washington liked about it. The building
was to be more than the home and office of the president;
it was to be a symbol of the presidency. A republic could
not have a king’s palace, but the building must command
respect from citizens in the United States and, just as
importantly, foreign visitors who came to visit America’s
leader.
On July 16, 1792, President Washington examined at
least six designs submitted in the President’s House
architectural competition. The plans were quite varied.
One of the designs was by James Hoban, an Irishman
whom the president had met a year earlier in Charleston. A
second plan was submitted by a mysterious man known
only as “A.Z.”. Historians have speculated that Thomas
Jefferson was the mystery designer, but records suggest
that the architect in question was more likely John Collins,
a builder from Richmond, Virginia. A third of the six
designs is by James Dimond, a Maryland inventor.
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